No abstract

Respiratory distress syndrome (RDS) causes significant hypoxia in extremely low birth weight (ELBW) infants. We report an ELBW infant with RDS and pulmonary hypertension whose hypoxia did not respond to inhaled nitric oxide but improved with inhaled prostacyclin. We propose that inhaled prostacyclin alleviated the hypoxia by stimulating surfactant secretion. (2007) 27, 724-726; doi:10.1038/sj.jp.7211811 Journal of PerinatologyKeywords: persistent pulmonary hypertension; hypoxia; respiratory distress syndrome; prostacyclin; surfactant; extremely-low-birth-weight infant Background Hypoxemia is a feature of respiratory distress syndrome. Patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) and persistent pulmonary hypertension of the newborn (PPHN) can exacerbate hypoxemia. Inhaled nitric oxide (iNO) is effective for treatment of PPHN in full-term infants by decreasing pulmonary vascular resistance, thereby decreasing right-to-left shunting and alleviating hypoxemia. Several case reports have similarly shown that inhaled prostacyclin (iPGI 2 ) is effective through pulmonary vasodilation in full-term and preterm infants with PPHN. 1-5 Hypoxemia in our patient was refractory to iNO but improved with iPGI 2 . We propose that this response may be due to a physiological mechanism different from pulmonary vasodilatation.

Chemically modified vegetable oils have become commercially attractive nowadays because they can be utilized as specialized components for the production of bioplasticizers and biopolymers due to their characteristics as being inexpensive, nontoxic, biodegradable, and renewable products. Due to the presence of unsaturation sites in the vegetable oils, they can be chemically modified and transformed into polymeric monomers such as acrylated epoxidized vegetable oils through well-known processes like epoxidation and acrylation processes. Acrylated epoxidized vegetable oil is a biopolymer that has a multitude of applications and is used mainly as a coating material for plastic, paper, and wood. There is an enormous demand for this biopolymer, and the market growth prospects are huge in some regions of the world. However, there are some challenges in the synthesis of acrylated epoxidized vegetable oils in achieving the performance of similar acrylated polymer derived from petroleum sources. In this paper, the chemical structure, properties, and chemical modifications of different types of vegetable oils were reviewed where the emphasis was given on epoxidation and its subsequent acrylation processes. This paper also highlights four types of epoxidation and their subsequent acrylation processes involving five different vegetable oils.

α-Sulfo fatty methyl ester sulfonate (α-MES) is one of the anionic surfactants that is currently used commercially in the cleaning industry. Although the fundamental studies on α-MES were initiated as far back as the 1950s, it was only recognized as a class of surfactant in the 1980s. In the initial stage of development, α-MES has been associated with many technical impediments, which created a fear factor for the detergent industry to consider this oleobased anionic surfactant for commercial production. However, all the technical adversities have been resolved after five decades of continuous active research and development activities. This paper will review the history, chemistry, process development, processing technologies, performance, commercial production, and applications of oleobased based α-MES with special emphasis on palm oilbased α-MES. The paper also will highlight the challenges and adversities faced by the technology developers and product formulators toward the commercialization of α-MES as an active ingredient in the production of powder and liquid laundry detergents.